


yesterdays that stay gold

by awkwardspaceturtle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Adam/Shiro (Voltron), First Crush, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22956667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardspaceturtle/pseuds/awkwardspaceturtle
Summary: All the work he put into not caring much about anyone else, and yet here he was genuinely liking the guy and his company. No one should be this likeable.(Or: My contribution for Sheith Week 2020: Pre-Kerberos Week)
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	yesterdays that stay gold

  * ********HELLO**** /GOODBYE



There was an ordinary non-lethal sandwich packed neatly in a ziploc bag on top of Keith’s desk in the classroom. A sticky note was stuck to its face, folded in half.

On the side facing him now, was a simple _Hello_ surrounded by doodles of bread and cheese slices, and hard-boiled eggs. They were all smiling and waving at him.

And inside, when he unfolded it: _Good morning, Keith. - S_

He had ignored the first two - after all, they both smelled burnt when he opened them. Also, just a week ago, he did steal the man’s car from under his nose, even when under teaching supervision and in broad daylight, no less. For all he knew, this guy could just be playing the nice man, and was plotting his revenge by giving him poisoned sandwiches.

Well, poisoned or not, Keith _was_ hungry.

This morning in the orphanage, Gilda the Grouchy Cafeteria Lady felt like she hated kids more than she did at any other day, and served cold beans and some indescribable black goop. The only thing he enjoyed for breakfast was the hot water available in the dispenser. Why Grumbling Gilda was assigned by the government to an orphanage is beyond anyone’s comprehension.

Right now, this unknown food substance on his desk seemed like a godsend. Those doodles looked so friendly smiling up at him, after all.

Keith took it out of the bag, and took a big bite despite its smoky aroma. He regretted it as soon as it made contact with his tongue, but it got him through the morning.

Before leaving class that day, tore a piece of paper from his notebook and left it on his desk.

There was nothing on it, no doodle nor name, except for a shabbily scrawled _Thanks._

The next day, the piece of paper was gone. In its place was another serving of Shiro’s Sandwich Special.

  * ********EARLY MORNINGS**** /LATE NIGHTS



A few weeks after his enrolment in the Garrison, Keith discovered that there was no better viewing deck than the B. Aldrin Hall rooftop if anyone wanted to greet the sun as it rose. He also realized that he might not be the first person to discover this.

 _Crap, why do I have to be right_ , Keith thought to himself as he hid behind one of the large water tanks. After taking a deep breath, he took a chance at another peek -- and there, clear as day, was a senior officer on a makeshift bench of discarded cement blocks, his back fortunately to where Keith was hiding.

Keith inched back further behind the tank and rethought his chances. He wasn’t going to get himself caught after all the sneaking around he did to get here. And he absolutely wasn’t going to get in trouble during his first month - he made a promise to Shiro during the entrance ceremony after all.

Tomorrow, maybe. He could just try again. And yet it would really feel like such a let down if he just gave up now after carefully planning and executing his elaborate strategy to get here.

Keith heaved a sigh, and decided to check once more if the other guy looked like he was staying long. When he looked back in the direction of where the sun should be coming up from, the said senior officer was gone. Not a trace of any previous occupant, no trash left at the scene. Which then begs the question -- where is that guy _now_?

Just as suddenly, a voice spoke directly beside him.

“Aha, I thought it was you.”

Keith’s instinctive reaction was a high-kick to the balls -- but the hand that stayed his leg was much quicker. Only people who knew him well enough knew he would strike in this way.

“Shiro!?”

“I thought you’d have found this place ages ago,” Shiro said with too much carefree cheerfulness for someone of authority catching a rule-breaker red-handed.

“You were expecting me?” Keith asked, still incredulous.

“I expected you would try,” Shiro said with a shrug. “Sandwich?”

Against his better judgement, Keith reached into the paper bag thrusted between them, and took a bite out of the familiar, homemade charcoal experiment.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said kn between chewing, eyes downcast. Even more than he was relieved to see it has been Shiro all along, he felt embarrassed and a little guilty.

“What for?”

“I promised not to do anything risky.”

“Well, do you feel like you’re in any kind of risk right now?” Shiro said. Cheekily. Keith rather liked this side of him.

 _Not with you, I don’t_ , Keith thought, but thought better than to say it out loud.

“D’you come here a lot?”

“Mostly,” Shiro replied. “But when Adam’s schedule permits it, I have breakfast with him in our quarters.”

“Oh. Glasses guy.” Keith did remember seeing a taller man over Shiro’s shoulder when he was being hugged dramatically during the entrance ceremony. He might’ve been in some of the recruitment posters, too. And he has seen Shiro walking with him around campus.

“Alright if I hang here, too?” Keith asked after he finished the sandwich.

Shiro responded with an amused chuckle. “This, after you drove my car away without asking?”

Keth found a tiny laugh made its way out of him. This couldn’t be real. He shouldn’t be this relieved nor happy to hear this from Shiro. A senior officer laughing in the face of disobedience -- Keith kept on discovering new ways to be surprised whenever Shiro was involved.

“So you’re not gonna tell me off? Squad captains are always on time for every wake-up call. I could get in trouble.”

Shiro took a pensive pause. When he spoke, it sounded like he didn’t really have to think hard about it. “Squad captains don’t have to do wake-up calls on Sundays, though.”

This absolutely was not the response he had expected. Anger or plain annoyance, or a full blown reprimand -- these were things Keith had come to expect as a consequence of his actions. But that didn’t seem to be the case here, not with Shiro. Shiro acknowledged that Keith already knew there would be consequences. He trusted that Keith would know what to do. This level of trust and confidence -- Keith still couldn’t believe it.

“So, you…?”

“I’m always here on Sunday morning, without fail.”

Honestly, Keith just couldn’t fathom how this guy’s brain worked at all. All the work he put into not caring much about anyone else, and yet here he was genuinely liking the guy and his company. No one should be this likeable. No one. Shiro just kept defying all the odds.

“Okay. Then I’ll see you Sunday.” Keith said. He hoped he didn’t look _too_ happy. Above them, a little ray of light started to soften the edges of the clouds.

“Deal.” Shiro smiled.

Keith started to head back the way he had come. He didn’t dare take as much as a glance over his shoulder and let Shiro see his stupidly big smile. He couldn’t wait for the weekend to roll around.

  * PEACE/ ** **TROUBLE****



They’ve been meeting for breakfast every Sunday since.

“Hm?” Keith said as he bit into his daily serving of Shiro’s handmade mystery. “There is surprisingly no burnt area in this sandwich.”

“Tastes great, doesn’t it?” Shiro said, his smile brighter with barely concealed pride and a bit of shyness. “I woke up a bit later than usual, so my boyfriend Adam made it this time.”

“Oh.”

 _Oh. That’s why he looks so stupidly happy._ Keith couldn’t quite point out why this suddenly soured his mood. Usually his mornings always started out right, but he was feeling a bit irritated even as he was chewing on food that was levels higher than the Shiro Specials.

“... I kinda like how it normally tastes much better.”

As soon as Keith said it, he immediately felt juvenile and petty. He could feel his face heating up like the inside of an oven on timelapse. Luckily, Shiro didn’t seem to notice as he responded with a laugh, and he reached out to playfully mess up Keith’s already messed up hair.

“Then maybe you’re the only one who would survive my cooking.”

_Idiot, if you knew your food increases one’s mortality rate, why make it?_

So not even Adam would eat what Shiro made. Yet Shiro continued to experiment in the kitchen anyway. Maybe it was because someone still ate what he made…? If Shiro was an idiot for doing this, then doesn’t that make whoever ate his food the bigger idiot?

Keith dropped his gaze and hoped his hair would cover his face. He felt even more embarrassed about Shiro seeing whatever his face was doing at the moment.

“Uh… Won’t he mind that you’re spending your Sunday mornings here?”

“Adam?” Shiro said as he licked his fingers clean of bread crumbs. “We always have lunch and dinner together, though, so it’s alright.”

Naturally, as what people in relationships probably do, Keith supposed. This shouldn’t be surprising at all. And yet there’s this really ugly feeling creeping up at the back of Keith’s head, that takes a bit of effort to shake off.

_Adam has done nothing to me, and everything for Shiro. So why does it bother me?_

“Do you have any plans today?” Shiro said.

“Huh?”

“I’ve just finished fixing the engine of this hoverbike I assembled from parts I scavenged for at the junk shop the past couple of weeks, and wanted to take it out for a test drive.”

Again with the surprises with this grown man. No day is ever the same with Shiro. Keith felt his stomach churning, and it sure as heck wasn’t from the normal-boring sandwich.

“Why not… I mean…?” Keith didn’t want to know if he was only a second option, or a last resort. But a part of him needed to confirm it, regardless. “Did Adam have any plans today or…?”

“He wouldn’t want me doing anything too dangerous…” Shiro almost trailed off, his eyes and free hand reflexively going to a silver bracelet on his wrist.

Keith felt his insides going haywire, but in a good kind. So this is something not even the closest person to Shiro knows about. If that’s the case, what did that make Keith to Shiro…?

“... so you wanna take me, a student and a minor, for an unauthorized demonstration of an unregistered vehicle, with possibly little to no consideration for safety protocols nor standard regulations…?”

“That is pretty much it, yeah.”

Shiro looked like he already knew Keith's answer. Keith tried not to betray the excitement flooding his veins.

“So where do I sign the waiver?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!
> 
> I haven't written Sheith in a while, so this time I really wanted to do something for SheithWeek, and Shiro's birthday as well. Fingers crossed on delivering Day 4-7 soon (tho I'm already late as it is)
> 
> Hope everyone's doing good celebrating Keith and Shiro!! xx


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